By: Tia Politi
October 01, 2022

We had a busy and productive meeting in Bend last month. McMenamin’s provided great food and a lovely meeting space. Friday’s Leadership Dinner was well-attended, and the group heard updates from our committee chairs. Technology Chair Cloud Miller prepared a spectacular Teams Video taking us through the history of the ORHA Forms Store that was almost lost forever and shared his vision for the future. Next up, forms packages that will prefill all selected forms with the tenants’ information, so you don’t have to fill out each form individually!

Education Chair Violet Wilson updated the group, taking us through the new classes in development and the progress the committee has made over the past year in supporting our smaller chapters through mentoring classes. The chapters who have benefitted from her support had rave reviews on all she has done to improve their offerings to their members as well as their bottom lines.  

Survey Chair Alex Wilkins presented his committee’s work on the next survey coming out this month. Be sure to send it out to your members and encourage them to participate. This new survey will be similar to the first so we can compare the data over time. Can’t wait to see it!

As chair of the Forms Committee, I reported that we were very close to putting the 2022-2023 Forms Manual to bed. Since then, it has been completed and sent to the printer. We hope by the time this newsletter comes out that the books will be ready to go. The Forms Committee’s next project is a new Law Book. We expect that will be published in late 2023 or early 2024 depending on the outcome of the next legislative session. We are planning to include other sections of law, including the Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure; ORS Chapter 18 – Judgments; ORS Chapter 40 – Rules of Evidence; ORS Chapter 46 – Small Claims; ORS Chapter 96 – Fence Line Law; and a new Glossary of Legal Terms. The committee is also in the process of taking suggestions for the next Forms Manual. Please email us with any suggestions for updates to existing forms or new forms you would like to see:  ORHAFormsCommittee@oregonrentalhousing.com.

At our Saturday board meeting, Bookkeeper Lori Black updated us on her progress cleaning up the books. In the past, some income and expenses were incorrectly categorized, and she and the Finance Committee have been hard at work with some forensic accounting. It looks better every time! At the office, Ben Seamans has helped by creating approval processes to input bills and invoices and route them to the appropriate board members for approval prior to payments being issued. With our new finance procedures in place, we are setting ourselves up for long-term fiscal stability and that feels good.

Our November and January meetings will be held online through Microsoft Teams. Look for invites to committee meetings and the board meeting next month – hope to see you all there!

Since being elected president, it’s been a series of dramatic changes to every aspect of what we do, but I’m very encouraged by the progress we’ve made in providing a stable foundation for the future of ORHA. Thank you for all your support!

“When we least expect it, life sets up a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not yet ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back.” – Paulo Coelho